Airborne dispenser

ABSTRACT

An improved airborne dispenser for releasing radar reflective material, pyrotechnic flares and the like includes a core member for storage of the material to be released and a protective casing which is removed in flight to allow for optimum dispersion of the material released.

United States Patent 1151 3,674,174 Crewe 1 1 July 4, 1972 1541 AIRBORNE DISPENSER 3,064,575 ll/l962 Schermuly ..343/18 x lnvemor: 10h" Mervyn Crew, Horsham England 3,143,965 8/1964 La Polnte ....343/l8 B [73] Assignee: Smith & Wesson Chemical Company, Inc. P i E i -R ben B, Reeve [22] Filed: June 12, 1970 Assistant Examiner-John P. Shannon, .lr.

A!t0rneyPatrick. .I Walsh [2l] Appl. No.: 45,843

[57] ABSTRACT 22 ga :3 An improved airborne dispenser for releasing radar reflective [5! l in! CI 565d 83/00 material, pyrotechnic flares and the like includes a core [58] Fieid 18 B 18 member for storage of the material to be released and a pro- 116105. [69/28 tective casing which is removed in flight to allow for optimum dispersion of the material released. [56] Cited 1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,308,759 3/1967 Sorenson ..343/18 B 11mm 3/ a i \JZZ 1 I as BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an improved airborne dispenser for articles (e.g., pyrotechnic flares or smoke canisters or radarreIIective materials). It is known to use rockets and other projectiles to carry and discharge radar-reflective materials both for military and for signalling purposes. The radar-reflective material is commonly in the form of metal or metallized plastic filaments or foil and bundles of such filaments or foil are placed in a dispenser and when airborne, the dispenser is opened to discharge the reflective material. Problems have arisen in striving to obtain uniform distribution of the filaments or foil and not infrequently with known dispensers one or more bundles of such material fail to disperse due to the filaments or foil becoming bonded or compacted together. It will be appreciated that the purpose of using such a dispenser is to achieve as uniform a density of filaments as possible so that as large an area as possible become radar reflecting. If inadequate distribution of the filaments or foil occurs, then the utility of the dispenser is greatly impaired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention an airborne dispenser comprises a core member and a surrounding multipart casing member, the core member having at least two cavities formed in that surface thereof confronting the casing member, each cavity being closed by a part of the casing member, one or more articles housed in each cavity, releasable means securing each part of the casing member to the core member and means to release the parts of the described, member to sequentially open the cavities. (e.g., the

Conveniently, the casing member is of circular cylindrical form with the division between the parts fliereof extending in the axial direction of the casing member. The core member is conveniently of cruciform shape, with the cavities for the article or articles defined between adjacent arms of the cross and the surrounding arcuate part of the casing. With the arrangement described, the cavities extend axially of the casing member and these cavities may be internally divided into lengths corresponding to the size of the article or articles (e.g., corresponding to the length of the filaments or foil) to be packed in the cavities.

The parts of the casing member may be hingedly attached at one end to the core member and secured at the other end to the core member by means which can be explosively released. By using explosive means for releasing the parts of the casing member it is possible to stagger the moment of release of each casing part relative to the other casing parts by employing delay fuses to the separate explosive charges.

When the discharger is moving through the air, removal of a part of the casing member will expose the cavity or cavities lying thereunder and will permit air turbulence to remove the articles from the dispenser and to disperse them. In order to facilitate the removal of articles from the dispenser, it is preferred to employ spring means to eject them from the cavity when the part of the casing member obturating that cavity is removed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING One embodiment of dispenser in accordance with the invention, designed specifically for use with radar-reflective filaments, will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. I is a part sectional side elevation of the dispenser, and FIG. 2 is a section on the line II-Il or FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, the dispenser comprises a core I surrounded by a four-part c lindrical casin 2.

The core I is fabricated om end discs and 4 of circular cross-section and a central region 5 of cruciform cross-section (see FIG. 2). The parts of the casing 2 are hingedly attached to the end disc 4 and are secured to the end disc 3 by means of explosively destructible pegs (not shown) housed in passages 6 in the end disc 3. The parts of the casing 2 lie in contact with the discs 3 and 4 over their entire circumferences but by virtue of the crucifonn shape of the central region 5 between the end discs, a plurality of axially extending cavities 7, 8, 9 and I0 are formed.

Each cavity contains a bundle or radar-reflective filaments II, the cavities 7, 8, 9 and 10 being subdivided axially of the casing 2 by partitions 12. The bundle of filaments 11 are placed in the appropriate cavity with the elongate direction of the filaments axially disposed relative to the dispenser. To facilitate the insertion of a bundle of filaments into the appropriate cavity it is conveniently surrounded by sheet material 13 which may be removed after the bundle is correctly positioned within the cavity.

To eject the bundle of filaments from the cavity, when the appropriate part of the casing 2 is removed, a plurality of springs 14 are housed in recesses 15 in the central region 5 of the core I. It requires the application of pressure to the springs 14 to force them to lie wholly within the recesses 15 and the necessary tensioning force for the springs is obtained by the casing 2 acting via the bundle of filaments 11.

In operation, the dispenser would be borne aloft by any convenient means (e.g., by a carrier rocket) and when ejected, fuses for the destructible pegs would be fired. These fuses have variable time delays so that the destructible pegs are fired in sequence. This ensures that the parts of the casin g 2 are removed one alter the other, removal of each part of the casing opening one of the cavities 7, 8, 9 or 10 and allowing the various springs 14 associated with that cavity to eject the individual bundles of filaments. By suitably delaying the release of the four parts of the casing it is possible to ensure a wide distribution of the radar-reflective filaments.

Other payloads (e.g., flares) can be substituted for the bundles of radar-reflective material.

What is claimed is:

I. An airborne dispenser comprising a cruciform core member having a plurality of primary recesses located in the surface of the core member between adjacent arms thereof, each of the recesses being divided into compartments for receiving material to be dispensed, each compartment having a secondary recess in the core member for receiving a spring member, a spring member in each secondary recess for expelling the material from the primary recess, a cover member including segments each covering a primary recess in the core member, and explosive means forcibly releasing each cover member, said explosive means being arranged to operate sequentially.

I I =0 I i 

1. An airborne dispenser comprising a cruciform core member having a plurality of primary recesses located in the surface of the core member between adjacent arms thereof, each of the recesses being divided into compartments for receiving material to be dispensed, each compartment having a secondary recess in the core member for receiving a spring member, a spring member in each secondary recess for expelling the material from the primary recess, a cover member including segments each covering a primary recess in the core member, and explosive means forcibly releasing each cover member, said explosive means being arranged to operate sequentially. 